Category Archives: useful information

When any software tries to access Outlook Address Book programmatically by using Outlook libraries, the system shows the security warning message –

A program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook. Do you want to allow this? If this is unexpected, it may be virus and you should choose “No”.

According to KB329765 – “This behavior occurs because there is no running session of Outlook to determine the correct security profile to load. Therefore, the default security profile is used, causing the security prompt. When you programmatically access an item in the Address Book, a session must be running to determine the correct security profile to load. When Microsoft Outlook is not running, the security dialog prompts the user because the default security profile is used.”

Although offered as a security feature, this prompt can be very annoying if the application frequently needs to access the address book or to send mails.

The workaround is to disable this security prompt by setting/creating a REG_DWORD registry entry CheckAdminSettings = 1 located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Security

Looks for settings in the Outlook Security Settings folder, applying them according to the defaults and specific users you've specified.

2

For Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 only: Looks for settings in the Oulook 10 Security Settings folder, ignoring any settings in the Outlook Security Settings folder. Use this value when you want Outlook 2002/2003 to use different settings

Anything else

Uses its default settings

This setting applies in current user hive only. Therefore, to apply it by default to all users, make the same entry in Default User hive (HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT). This NTUSER.DAT file can then be copied to other systems as well where the Outlook security warning needs to be disabled. Of course, it goes without saying that this setting can also be exploited by viruses. Also note that CheckAdminSettings registry change works only with Exchange Server.

Helpful hint: One way to verify whether if it is an MTU problem is to try and access the application or website via dial up access. Since dial up uses a default MTU of 576 bytes you will not have the same problems as broadband. If you have problems with both broadband and dial up access then the problem is probably something else.

Summary One of the easy and most accurate ways to test for optimum MTU is to do a simple DOS Ping test. You will simply send out ping requests and progressively lower your packet size until the packet no longer needs to be fragmented. Although this simple test is accurate for testing end points, users may find that a lower MTU may be better for their particular circumstances. Important Note: MTU must be 1492 (or lower) when using PPPoE connectivity. More detailed information about the effects of MTU can be found here.

Important Notes: •Due to additional complications, VPNs require a different type of MTU test. Please refer to the end of this article. •If you have a network with multiple PCs every computer should be set up with the same MTU. Additionally, some PCs may use several Network Adapters or a VPN client adapter on one PC so you must verify you are changing the Network Adapter associated with your broadband service or VPN client. • The built in PPPoE client for Windows XP uses an MTU that is set to 1480. For more information please reference this XP MTU article. This only applies if you are running the built in XP PPPoE client!

Finding the Correct MTU To find the correct MTU for your configuration you must run a simple DOS Ping test. You will simply send out ping requests and progressively lower your packet size until the packet no longer needs to be fragmented. Please reference the following steps:

The command for this ping test is ping www.eulinx.com -f -l xxxx.

•You can use any well known, pingable domain like ping www.google.com -f -l xxxx in place of www.tp-link.com for the test. •There is a single space between each command.

•"-l" is a lower case letter L, not the number one.

•The last four numbers are the test packet size.

Step 1 Open a DOS prompt screen by clicking on Start>Programs>MSDOS-PROMPT. You can also use the Run Command by clicking on Start>Run then type in "cmd" for Windows 2000/XP/Vista or "command" for Windows 95/98/ME.

Step 2 At the DOS Prompt type in ping www.tp-link.com -f -l 1472 and hit Enter. Notice that the packet needs to be fragmented. (Figure 1)

Step 3 Drop the test packet size down (10 or 12 bytes) and test again. Notice that the packet still needs to be fragmented. (Figure 2)

Step 4 Drop the test packet size down more and test again until your reach a packet size that does not fragment. (Figure 3)

Step 5 Once you have a test packet that is not fragmented increase your packet size in small increments and retest until you find the largest possible packet that doesn´t fragment. Step 6 Take the maximum packet size from the ping test and add 28. You add 28 bytes because 20 bytes are reserved for the IP header and 8 bytes must be allocated for the ICMP Echo Request header. Remember: You must add 28 to your results from the ping test! An example: 1440 Max packet size from Ping Test + 28 IP and ICMP headers 1468 is your optimum MTU Setting

Problems connecting to my VPN or my applications stall and time out.

There are usually two common problems associated with VPN connectivity.You can´t connect to the VPN server at all. -If you can not connect to your VPN server at all and have a router the VPN application may require you to either open certain ports, assign an IP to a specific computer, or use a separate PPPoE client directly on the computer.

You can connect and authenticate to the VPN server but nothing else happens and applications stall, time out, or fail to load. -If you can connect and authenticate but applications stall, time out, or fail to load your MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) may be incorrect.

The print life of Brother toner cartridges is based upon their ability to continue to achieve guaranteed print quality. As the toner cartridge is used, the supply of available toner is consumed and the functional components become physically worn. The LED indication to replace toner cartridge flashes when the supply of toner and/or material deterioration reach a level at which the print quality can no longer be guaranteed.

You can continue printing with the toner cartridge beyond its estimated print life by enabling “Continue Mode”.

How to enable Continuous Mode ?

Press the GO button 7 times (quickly). All of the LEDs should flash twice, and the Ready LED should turn on. Continue mode is now enabled.

To disable Continue Mode, please follow the steps below:

Press the GO button 7 times (quickly). All of the LEDs should flash once. Continue mode is now disabled.

OK.. after a few updates have noticed that the OWA was not working . Nothing new there.. No one could access their e-mails via the web.

Checking the IIS logs, I found that the error was 500 which indicated some kind of authentication error.

A little power-shell cmdlet you can run is Test-OWAConnectivity. So I ran the cmdlet and recieved WARNING: An unknown failure occurred during logon. So I checked IIS and ensured that all of the authentication was set correctly and indeed it was. So after some poking around on the web I found out Exchange 2010 palms off the Forms Based Authentication to a separate Service called Microsoft ExchangeForms-Based Authentication Service. Starting this service fixed the blank page issue and allowed clients to authenticate correctly.
So simple cure to a blank problem.. make sure that Microsoft ExchangeForms-Based Authentication Service is running...

We get this question often lately. Here's the scenario:
I was trying to re-size or copy my UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) for one reason or another and now I can't boot my Windows 8 or 8.1 PC.
There are some free software solutions out there some seem to work some don't. Most often when we receive this question the user has tried to use the Windows Copy command and the Windows Disk Management Tool (WDMT) to copy the UEFI partitions contents to larger partition, then uses the WDMT to delete the old UEFI partition then re-size the new one, set the new UEFI partition to active and then re-boot. This is were the trouble starts. At this point the BCD store is corrupted and the system will not boot. Here is a fix that I hope will help.
Firstly, boot from a Windows 8 recovery drive (CD/DVD/USB). If you don't have a recovery drive (and this is likely because most new machines don't come with one), then you will either have to install the drive into another Windows 8 machine or obtain a Windows 8 recovery drive, or boot from the recovery partition of the boot drive (If this option works at this point). Don't even bother with the automated recovery process, it will not work as it cannot find a Windows partition.

You will need to choose the language and time settings.

Choose 'Repair Your Computer'.

Choose 'Troubleshooting'.

Choose "Advanced Options'.

Next choose 'Command Prompt'.

Next, we're going to use the DISKPART tool to verify that the UEFI partition has a drive letter assignment.
Enter 'DISKPART' (Enter)
(In this test case we removed all other drives except the boot HDD and DVD, so we know the disk 0 is our boot HDD)
DISKPART> sel disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list vol
There was no drive letter assignment to our UEFI partition (volume 3) so we need to assign a drive letter.
DISKPART> sel vol 3
Volume 3 is the selected volume.
DISKPART> assign letter=E:
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
Exit DiskPart tool (Enter EXIT)
Next, we need to change to the boot folder on the UEFI volume.
Change to the UEFI volume into the boot folder. Depending on the way Windows was installed this path maybe one of the following.
cd /d E:\Boot\
cd /d E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
cd /d E:\ESD\Windows\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
Now we will need to enter three command lines to repair the BCD store. Again depending on the way Windows was installed these may not all be necessary, however
command lines are are unnecessary will not affect the outcome.

bootrec /fixboot

bootrec /fixmbm

That's it, if all went well the BCD store should be repaired, and the system will once again boot.

Firstly, boot from a UEFI Windows 8 recovery disk (CD/DVD/USB) - I found that the automated recovery process didn't find the correct Windows partition, nor when I managed to add it to BCD settings would it make it reliably bootable e.g. using BCDEDIT I got it to find and launch the Windows partition but it refused to cold boot or would not "keep" the settings after a 2nd reboot or power off.
Go into the Advanced options and run the Command Prompt.
Enter diskpart to use the DiskPart tool to ensure you have all the right partitions and to identify your EFI partition - the key thing here is that your EFI partition is formatted as FAT32:

Exit DiskPart tool by entering exit and at the command prompt run the following:

cd /d b:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
bootrec /fixboot

Delete or rename the BCD file:

ren BCD BCD.bak

Use bcdboot.exe to recreate BCD store:

bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-gb /s b: /f ALL

The /f ALL parameter updates the BIOS settings including UEFI firmware/NVRAM, /l en-gb is to localise for UK/GB locale. The localisation defaults to US English, or use en-US.
Reboot and cross your fingers.
This gave me headaches. I was going in circles for a long while. There isn't a lot of reliable info about fixing UEFI/Windows 8 at the time of writing.
To re-enable Hyper-V, I also had to run the following from an Administrator Command Prompt within Windows after rebooting:

It can be done via the command line. Open up a Command Prompt (Press the Windows Button and type CMD or navigate to All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt). Then you just need to use the command below that matches your OS.
For 32 bit Windows:
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /inpkey:yourkeygoeshere
For 64 bit Windows (assuming you are using 32 bit Office):
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /inpkey:yourkeygoeshereObviously, you need to replace yourkeygoeshere with your product key.Note: If you are installing a 64 bit version of Office on 64 bit Windows, the command for 32 bit Windows should be used (or just delete the (x86) part since it won't be installing to the C:\Program Files (x86)\ directory).

You can configure a Group Policy Object (GPO) that gets applied to the desired user accounts to do this.
In Group Policy Editor (GPE), navigate to User Configuration\Windows Settings\Administrative Templates\Desktop\ Active Desktop and enable Active Desktop Wallpaper. In the Properties dialog box of this policy, you specify the full pathname of a .jpg, .bmp, or .html file and select whether to centre, stretch, or tile the image.
For this policy to work, you must also Enable Active Desktop, which you'll find in the same policy folder.